Voss wants a life ban from AFL for any coach found tanking
The Age
Tuesday August 4, 2009
MICHAEL Voss said yesterday that coaches who deliberately throw AFL matches should be banned for life, while North Melbourne's Brent Harvey has questioned the manhood of anyone who would "tank" games.The Brisbane Lions coach said he doubted any of his AFL counterparts would be involved in tanking, but said he thought there should be an immediate change to drafting regulations so struggling teams would have fewer incentives to lose games.Voss said he couldn't fathom any coach or player entering a match not wanting to win. "It would be shocking €” I want to win Monopoly, let alone coach an AFL team," he said yesterday."I would be very confident to suggest there's never been a coach who has come into a game and said we want to lose this game. And if there is they should ban him for life."Kangaroos skipper Harvey said he didn't believe tanking was a problem, questioning what kind of person would deliberately set out to lose a match."I don't think tanking happens in footy. Whether a coach does a move or not [is irrelevant]. If the coach puts me at full-back I'm going to try just as hard as if I'm on the ball," he said."You can't go out there and be a man going out to play a game of footy and [be] rolling over. I can't see it happening and I don't think it does happen."The latest tanking claims following Melbourne coach Dean Bailey's sometimes unorthodox tactics in experimenting with players out of position in Sunday's close loss to Richmond.Melbourne can only win one more match this season to be eligible for a priority pick at the top of this year's draft. The Demons would have been in major danger of losing that right if they had beaten Richmond.Voss said public perceptions surrounding the "ugly" issue had meant action was needed, advocating a lottery for the bottom four teams for the first draft picks."Let's remove all doubt with that and put a lottery in and say the bottom four sides go in a lottery and if your name comes out then happy days," Voss said."They've got to change the system, absolutely. I just think the competition, at this point in time, there is a perception that you need to bottom out to build and there's a perception that tanking exists, whether it's in its purest form or [by] managing players." -- AAPMELBOURNE MOVESSeveral coaching moves have been questioned since Melbourne's loss to Richmond after a post-siren goal. Melbourne coach Dean Bailey provided explanations after the match, while The Age sought a learned second opinion from four-time premiership coach David Parkin.1. Clint Bartram, 181-centimetre, opens up on 192-centimetre key forward Jack Riewoldt. Bartram, a running player, usually takes mid-sized players, not talls.Dean Bailey: was not asked about this move.David Parkin: "I would have thought there would have been a bit of method in his madness there. Because Jack doesn't chase and you're probably not going to prevent him from marking those that he gets his hands around. I don't know what the alternatives were but I wouldn't have worried too much.He (Bartram) got a fair bit of the ball."2. Paul Johnson has played virtually all his football as a ruckman/forward and is at full-back, on Jack Riewoldt - and, briefly, on 182- centimetre Nathan Brown - for much of the second half.Bailey: "We lost Stefan Martin and Paul has played back.Last year, against Port Adelaide he played back. Without another tall on the ground - we didn't seem to get much up forward - we thought he could offer us some flexibility down back."Parkin: "You'd have to question that one, yeah."3. Key defenders Matthew Warnock and James Frawley are switched to key forward positions in the second half. They compete well and provide a contest but neither kicks a goal.Bailey: "I think it was more experimentation again with the other guys. Frawley is a very adaptive player and Matty Warnock as well. It is probably Paul Johnson's opportunity to show he could play in a couple of positions."Parkin: "Yeah, questionable. There's no doubt that Warnock could play forward. I think he's got the physique and athleticism and things to do it. But I wouldn't have thought Frawley was ever going to be looked at as a forward in that team, ever."4. Brad Miller contests two centre bounces and is involved in another eight as a midfielder.Melbourne had fit ruckmen in Johnson and Jake Spencer.Bailey (asked about Miller contesting the ruck): "I think it was just before halftime.We'd made an interchange, I think Valenti - I'm not sure whether Valenti came on or came off - and we couldn't get the message out to Paul Johnson to come into the ruck. We put Miller in the middle of the ground, so they pulled someone else in the middle and Brad took the centre bounce.We certainly didn't plan Brad Miller to be taking the centre bounce, we had a couple of ruckmen."Parkin: "I did see Miller go and I thought that was a bit strange, because they already had Johnson didn't they?" 5. Colin Sylvia not selected, after a three-game suspension.Bailey: "He got suspended for three weeks and I decided, or we decided as a match committee, that to reward Colin in picking him wasn't the right thing to do. So he played down at Geelong. I thought he played all right from all reports; so hopefully, he'll be available for next week."Parkin: "Unless you knew what - Sylvia's record is such that he's probably done something in that period, which meant that the leadership group or coach [or] whatever extended it. It's very hard to debate that one, because you don't know the issue."
© 2009 The Age
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